Movie review: Hot Tub Time Machine’ reheats the cheesy 80s

Dana Barbuto

Friday

Mar 26, 2010 at 12:01 AMMar 26, 2010 at 12:13 AM

"Hot Tub Time Machine” unapologetically wears its sophomoric comedy on its time-traveling sleeve. It simultaneously affects and embarrasses any of us who came of age in the ’80s, that cheesiest of all decades.

"Hot Tub Time Machine” unapologetically wears its sophomoric comedy on its time-traveling sleeve. It simultaneously affects and embarrasses any of us who came of age in the ’80s, that cheesiest of all decades.

It doesn’t matter if it sometimes feels like VH1’s “I Love the ’80s.” And it doesn’t matter if the story – three unfulfilled guys traveling back in time to get a do-over of a pivotal night in their lives – gets short shrift.

The filmmakers, Steve Pink directing from a script by Sean Anders and John Morris (“She’s Out of My League”) with help from Josh Heald, simply inject gags and humor whenever the wheels threaten to fall off.

It works, too. But that success has little to do with the originality of guy-on-guy (almost) fellatio or a cringe-inducing scene where a catheter is yanked out. No, it’s because the actors sell every second of it. And you’re all too eager to follow the quirky quartet of John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson and Clark Duke anywhere, including back in time.

Eighties movies might have made Cusack (“Better Off Dead,” “Say Anything”) famous, but Corddry flat out steals “Hot Tub” right out from under him. He’s Lou, the hyperactive, foul-mouthed, boozebag who his friends affectionately call “Violator.” Lou is so unapologetically uncouth that you’d hate him if he weren’t played by someone as endearing as Corddry.

When we catch up with the guys, they are in differing degrees of misery. Cusack’s Adam is going through a messy breakup, and his dorky nephew Jacob (Duke, “Sex/Drive”) lives with him because his mother (Lizzy Caplan) is shacked up with her latest beau. Once a rising star in the band Chocolate Lipstick, Robinson’s Nick is a sort-of canine whisperer who fishes car keys out of dog’s butts.

Don’t get too hung up on the plot, though, because a lot of the details are left hanging. You’ll drive yourself crazy wondering what happened in Cincinnati so just forget about it. Concentrate on picking up all those references (some subtle) to ’80s films like “Red Dawn,” Cusack’s “Better Off Dead,” and “Sixteen Candles.”

On its surface, “Hot Tub Time Machine” is a valentine to classic ’80s comedies that were so deliciously bawdy. You know, the ones like “Porkys” and “Stripes,” where the drinking, nudity and cursing were more important than the story.

Pink, who also helmed the silly teen flick “Accepted” and co-wrote the cult classic “High Fidelity,” continues the love affair with the decade with casting choices like Chevy Chase as a creepy repairman and Crispin Glover, who memorably portrayed George McFly in that other time-traveling blockbuster, “Back to the Future.”

Glover is a blast, too, playing an affable one-armed bellhop at the ski lodge the guys retreat to re-evaluate their lives and friendships.

It’s their first time back there since they were teenagers, and like them, it’s showing the ravages of time.

Well, everything but the DeLorean ... er ... hot tub that magically transports them back to 1986 to relive that all-important weekend from their youth.

For the most part, the jokes and characters are hilarious. Especially Glover, who makes you simultaneously laugh and cringe with a running gag about how his character lost his limb.

And while it’s far from perfect, “Hot Tub Time Machine” captures well the fatuousness of the ’80s. So come on all you New Wavers and Madonna wannabes, grab your suits and some liquid refreshment. Then hop into the “Tub” and let the nostalgia wash all over you.